Wednesday, December 11, 2013

When I posted earlier about food on Maidan these days, Leo Dvortsin of the Netherlands, a friend of both Ukraine and the Pickle Project, shared a link from someone's timeline on Facebook. That someone was Zoya Zvinyatskovskaya, a journalist and culture expert. Enormous thanks to Zoya for giving us permission to share it here and to Leo for providing the translation. Read it, just read it--it's incredible.Everybody
agrees that the food takes an extraordinary place during this
revolution, a special place in the organization of any event, slightest
movement or displacement of people on the streets. Of course, this is
not a coincidence, as food and its availability
are the oldest and most simple indicators of the state of well-being of
a given society. So, according to this indicator, the Ukrainian society
unified by the concept "Maidan" is doing really well, something to
envy.Last
Tuesday, that is a million years ago, I passed by fences set out by
activists on the corner of Maidan (Independence Square), Institutskaya
and Bankovoya streets. There were several dozen serious people and, as
many simple sympathizers like me. I came close to the fence, stood on
tiptoe and peered over it: at the other side there was an empty street,
and a row of policemen in black uniforms further away. It was a fairly
infernal display, but I was not allowed to enjoy it fully. Literally
after 30 seconds of my observation I was approached by a very active and
smiling young girl who in a very friendly manner asked, "would you like
to have tea?" In her hands she was holding a tray with disposable cups
from which clouds of steam were rising into the air. I politely declined
her offer, but she insisted and repeated, "and with cookies?" This meant
the following: if you are at least for a minute doing something needed
now by ‘gromada’ (Russian words ‘society’ or ‘collective’ are
absolutely not equivalent, and I do not even want to use them), and so,
if you work for even for a minute for the benefit of ‘gromada’ –
‘gromada’ immediately begins to take care of you. And you will not
perish.And
today, I saw this mechanism from the inside, on a barricade closest to
my home - a small outpost of the Maidan, one of many around the square.
Around 6:30 PM, when a spontaneous gathering of protesters started near
the barricade (speaker, standing on a car, tried to convince people
supporting the government party who gathered in the park to go home ), I
decided to show my daughter the revolution – luckily, the frontline
came very close to my house. We arrived around 7 PM, warmly dressed and
with a child-sized flag. Scene of the spectacle looked quite heroic:
truck baffling the street, determined people in helmets, barricade made
of benches from the nearby park, and an army tent. The only thing that
slightly spoiled the romance - soldiers of the revolution, standing in a
chain they were all eating bananas. It looked a bit strange and very
funny at the same time. And then I saw the source of bananas - a woman
in a coat with a bag from the Selpo supermarket chain. And then another
one - with small pies, you know, ones that are sold on the street. She
walked down the line with the package and offered them to everyone.Hmm,
somehow suddenly I thought that it would be necessary to bring some tea
for the guys, and went home. At 7:35 PM my friends and I returned to
the barricade with two buckets of tea, as well as with sugar and lemon.
One of the benches has been brought out of the barricade, on the side.
On it there was a box with homemade sandwiches and a grandfather poured
coffee from a small thermos. Our tea was greeted very warmly, as we
poured it, a man appeared with the patties filled with poppy seed (they
were stored in the same box as the homemade sandwiches) and there were
even more homemade sandwiches arriving, but different ones. Everything
started to look very well. At 8:20 a car drove up, obviously from
headquarters of the protest movement. A man exited from the car dressed
in a fantastic sheepskin jacket, belted with Hutsul leather belt. He
delivered three military jerry cans, each with up to 20 liters capacity,
full with broth, soup and tea. Besides that the car brought a porridge
made with millet and fried with lard. And a real aunty cook began to
serve it with a huge ladle on disposable plates. A woman volunteer who
called the aunty cook ‘mother’ started distributing the plates. First to
the ‘soldiers’ in the line. Then to everybody around the barricade,
including supporters, onlookers and Titushki who came from work on their
way to sleep. Titushki (government backed young men who are responsible
for provocations) recoiled in horror and accelerated pace. At the same
time, people brought baguettes, sandwiches and more patties. Porridge of
oatmeal was still warm. By 8:50 PM all were full, the music continued
to play, and two beautiful and cheerful girls began to dance and sing along at yet another Svyatoslav Vakarchuk`s song. Picket turned into
something that usually happens during our revolutions. It became some
sort of wedding , and in its phase when the newlyweds have already left,
and the table is just bursting from the weight of food, and the guests
are already full of fun and are assessing which songs they should start
singing. Ten meters from the protesters stood a row of policemen, and
right behind them a row of riot police who looked like astronauts. They
were standing too far from the barricade, but the cops sadly smelled
tasty vapors, shifting from foot to foot, staring morosely at what is
happening in front of them - the smell of porridge was just intoxicating
and filled the street. I trudged home with an empty bucket in order to
put my child to bed (second bucket, still full with tea, I left as my
present for the revolution), on my way home I saw at least three couples
with plastic bags in which I could clearly recognize stacked
sandwiches . Based on the amount of food the picket could have stood
there for several days. And we have not even shown our best. Well,
you understand what I am trying to say. Of course, this barricade is
purely symbolic. And the ‘fighters’ occupying it are not real fighters,
but just simple guys in construction helmets and without the slightest
hint of weapons in their possession. And this barricade can be
dismantled in blink of an eye. But, you know that it will as easily
restored in no time. As many times as required. Pledge for this is the
amazing self-organization of our people, most clearly evident in the
supply of food anyone, even random people who are sympathizing with the
protest movement. There is abundance of food. But the main thing is that
I have seen where this food comes from. It is instantly supplied by
‘gromada’. And this is demonstration of force, the most peaceful and
the most powerful at the same time that I have ever seen.

Monday, December 9, 2013

When we began the Pickle Project, we began with an idea that the ways in which Ukrainians approach food and sustainability were something to be proud of, something Americans could learn from. But our 2011 conversations in Kyiv, Donetsk, Odessa and L'viv helped us understand more: that talking about food, eating together and sharing a meal were fundamentally democratic activities, making us all equal and providing a safe place to share ideas, even with strangers.

Like many of you who care about Ukraine, I've spent the last two weeks checking out my Facebook feed (for English speakers, check out Euro-Maidan in English on Facebook) reading the Kyiv Post's continous online coverage, and hearing from friends and colleagues in Ukraine about the protests in Kyiv and throughout the country. And, if you looked closely, even from thousands of miles away, you could see our beliefs about food made real.

This post is just to share a few images from the protests in the center of Kyiv, just blocks from where I lived for a few months. Dozens, if not hundreds, of people (including Miss Ukraine 2013) have stepped up to make sure everyone, even policemen, are fed warm soup or served a cup of tea. I've read that citizens from Poltava and other locations have sent food, local restaurants have gone into the streets to serve free food, and in the video at the end of the post, Adli from Crimea makes plov. With all these images, photographers, I've tried to credit you as I can--if I missed you, please let me know. If you've got more photos to share, please do.

What have I seen? As you can see here, cold sandwiches of meat and cheese, homemade varenky in a pot carefully wrapped in newspaper to stay warm, kasha, plov, those boxes of cookies seen in every subway underpass; cups of tea and coffee, and giant cauldrons of borscht, borscht, borscht. But more importantly, what I've seen is volunteer action, of a kind that is rarely seen in Ukraine. Incredible to watch. On this cold night, our hearts are with you.

Images, top to bottom: Several of these photos are by Vassil Garnisov, others from Euro-Maidan on Facebook or the Kyiv Post. The image of tea being served to policemen is by Vitalli Sediuk on Twitter.Video by Babylon13, who are creating great short video documentaries about EuroMaidan. You can find others on YouTube.

Want a presentation about the Pickle Project? We might (given the peripatetic nature of both our jobs) be in your town. If you'd like to host a presentation or conversation--get in touch!

About Us

We're Linda Norris and Sarah Crow and we both like food. This is The Pickle Project, an ongoing effort to document and share traditional foodways in communities large and small throughout Ukraine as a way of understanding issues of sustainability, change and community.

Why Ukraine? We both spent time there as Fulbright Scholars. Sarah worked in the Carpathians on issues of forestry and sustainability and Linda, based in Kyiv, worked with museums throughout the country.

Why pickles? We've both had a long-standing interest in food as an expression of culture. And in Ukraine, pickled everything serves as a visible, important expression of culture.